The Pixel 6 also gets a significant leg up when it comes to gaming. In the GFXBench onscreen Manhattan 3 test, the Pixel 6 achieved an average frame rate of 79fps, which, if you take a look at the graph below, is almost three times faster than last year’s phone. Blimey. What's most impressive about the Pixel 6's modem, however, is its connectivity. We tested it in dozens of urban and rural locations across two states never encountered a poor signal. It consistently reached higher speeds than the iPhone 13 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra we tested in the same locations. But in side-by-side comparisons between the Pixel 6 and its pricier Pixel 6 Pro sibling – which does have a QHD (3120 x 1440) display – we couldn’t really determine much difference in detail watching identical media (a 4K YouTube video scaled to each phone’s respective resolution). In fact, it wasn’t until we got within inches of both phones that we could discern any difference, and even then, it was very minimal. The Full HD Plus 2400 x 1080 resolution here (so not QHD) equates to 441 pixels per inch, which is on a par with other phones around the price (and even with some pricier options such as the Samsung Galaxy S21). The company is again focusing its efforts on strengthening the Pixel’s camera capabilities. The rear camera is now a 50MP affair (up from 12.2MP), complemented by a 12MP ultrawide unit and a 12MP selfie snapper on the front. The camera’s new “Magic Eraser” tool now allows you to remove objects and people from the image just by circling them in the edit, too.

Google Pixel 6 review - TechRadar

The Pixel 6’s new “Face Unblur” feature also works tremendously well. When it detects a face in the frame while shooting in portrait mode, the ultrawide camera captures an image with a faster shutter speed than the primary lens as soon as you press the button. The Pixel 6 then combines the two pictures in an effort to reduce blur on a moving subject. Here’s the final image after telling my fiancée to spin around for a bit. Other improvements within Android 12 include changes to widget settings, a one-handed mode and a new AppSearch feature. This allows you to search for stuff within an app in the phone’s settings menu, rather than launching the app itself.The top bezel houses a cutout that pulls double duty as both earpiece and the other half of the stereo speaker setup. Its grille is divvied up into 10 segments, and sound only comes out of the leftmost six — you can actually see that it’s filled in on the right side. It looks a little weird up close, but it doesn’t impact audio quality. Google didn't disclose the Pixel 6’s modem at its launch event, nor when we asked for additional details about it. After some research with Sascha Segan, PCMag's lead mobile analyst, we're confident the phone uses Samsung's Exynos 5123 modem. On the other hand, battery life isn’t the Pixel 6’s strong suit. Lasting just a bit longer than the Pixel 6 Pro, the regular model topped out at just 18hrs 34mins in our video-rundown test, which represents a stamina decrease of 19% compared to 2020’s Pixel 5 (22hrs 54mins). You’ll be charging the phone more often, which is a shame. The phone was the first to launch with Android 12 out of the box, and there are plenty of new features to discover. Most of these upgrades are incremental or not too noticeable, but some are huge. Like last year, the Pixel 6 has a dual rear camera setup, although this now consists of a 50MP main camera that captures 150% more light than before and a 12MP ultrawide camera. Note that the sensor on the main camera is a whopping 1/1.3in in size (bigger than the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s main camera sensor) and has pixels that are 1.2um wide.

Pixel 6 5G (Sorta Seafoam, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage) Google Pixel 6 5G (Sorta Seafoam, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage)

The increased weight and less cutesy design help to create the more mature aesthetic Google is apparently aiming for with the Pixel 6, helping it look and feel like a real premium contender. However, where it excels is for watching media – and listening to it. We loved the Pixel 4’s speakers, and we’re continued fans of the Pixel 6’s audio, which sounds evenly balanced among highs and lows. Other handsets have uneven splits between their dual speakers (typically around the earpiece and next to the power port), with treble or bass favoring one or the other; but the Pixel 6 feels much more even, with its two speakers delivering a more even mix. So how does Tensor compete with the competition? Looking at the comparison, single-core speeds are matched with the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100, but Qualcomm and Samsung’s top-end mobile chipsets both outperform Google’s in regards to multi-core processing. The Apple A15 Bionic found inside the iPhone 13 is still top dog in both metrics. A 4,614mAh battery powers the Pixel 6. In our early battery drain tests, where we stream HD video over Wi-Fi at full brightness, the phone averaged 23 hours and 11 minutes before shutting down. During a week of regular use, we only needed to charge the phone twice and didn't notice any battery depletion when there wasn't any use. The Pixel 6 supports 30W fast charging via USB-PD 3.0 and compatible third-party adapters. Qi wireless charging maxes out at 12W, but the upcoming Pixel Stand 2 supports fast charging at up to 21W. The phone also features reverse power-sharing capabilities. Sub-6GHz 5G or the Full 5G Experience? We tested the Pixel 6 on Verizon’s 5G network in Chicago and recorded admirable speeds, averaging 168Mbps down and 78Mbps up.Of course, for non-exclusive features there are now plenty of other phones with Android 12 too, but the Pixel 6 is sure to get Android 13 on day one as well, so it will maintain its software lead over most rivals.

Pixel 6 in Sorta Seafoam color gets early unboxing video Pixel 6 in Sorta Seafoam color gets early unboxing video

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are the first phones to ship with the Google Tensor SoC. Designed by Google specifically for the Pixel lineup, its processors, coprocessors, instruction sets, and other software are all in harmony to create a heterogeneous computing experience. What I can test, however, is whether the Pixel 6 lives up to Google’s lofty performance claims. Running the Geekbench 5 test, which scores both single- and multicore CPU performance, the Pixel 6 scored 1,031 and 2,843 respectively. Compare those figures to the Pixel 5 and we’re looking at a roughly 75% increase in raw speeds. While the Pixel 6 Pro’s battery offers even more capacity at 5,000mAh battery, the Pixel 6 comfortably makes it through a full day of use. Google claims the phone will last for up to 24 hours, which can be extended to 48 hours with the help of the Extreme Battery Saver mode, although we’d expect less than that with our testing. Still, Google’s AI photo magic applied to images from that jumbo camera sensor with artificially large pixels does make for excellent photos across just about every lighting condition. Excessively noisy low-light photos from the primary camera are a rarity, and in good light, a deft photographer could easily get frame-worthy photos out of this thing.Samsung’s second-generation 5G modem, the Exynos 5123, also appeared in the global version of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. It supports 800Hz mmWave connectivity and 200MHz of Sub-6 5G; as mentioned, the Verizon version of the Pixel 6 is the only model with mmWave antennae. The display does tend towards a more vibrant mix of colors than handsets such as the iPhone 12 Pro –and that isn’t only in the overall palette, either. The Pixel 6’s OLED screen displayed greater contrast in adjacent colors, going from brighter to darker hues; side-by-side evaluation of contrast saw the iPhone 12 Pro’s display flatten more of the color together. The Google Pixel 6 was unveiled on October 19, 2021 alongside the Google Pixel 6 Pro, and each of these smartphones were released on October 25. The Pixel 6’s 6.4-inch OLED display is the biggest screen included on a Pixel phone, with the exception of the Pixel 6 Pro with its 6.7-inch screen, topping even the 6.3-inch Google Pixel 4 XL from 2019. At such a reasonable price and with such a tempting array of features, Google has a winner on its hands. Aside from the “love it or hate it” design, the only real fly in the ointment is the Pixel 6’s battery life, which comes in well under its competitors. But it’s hardly a deal-breaker at just under 20 hours.